Over the past few years, I have noticed a huge spike in young people showing up at auctions. By young people I mean the generation Y crowd, generally considered those born between 1978 and 1992. I am not that old, but still old enough to notice the influx of young people attending the auctions I like to frequent. These are not looky-loos either, they know their stuff. They have researched and sussed out the items for sale and are buying up all of the items I would normally have just looked at. At a great price of course. What makes these young people so good at getting great auction deals? I did a little research, myself.

Apparently, when it comes to Generation Y (there are over 72 million of them), retailers are at a loss. This young generation grew up in the age of the internet, thus are technologically inclined. As well, they also experienced the recent recession. Given these two influences, their generation has snubbed their nose at the previous generation’s consumer habits, revolutionizing the retail world.

Generation Y-ers are always on the lookout for value at a great price. Secondhand shopping on and off line seems to be where they start and finish when it comes to purchasing. Marketing companies are urging retailers to join the social networking sites for accessing these young consumers. However, secondhand shopping and swapping still seems to be the favorite sources of their next purchase. If retailers want to access these consumers they are encouraged to be more economically, and environmentally responsible. For example, a snowboard company would be considered ‘cool’ and thus bring interest by allowing trade-ins and recirculating the refurbished boards to be resold. Sustainability is also huge for generation Y. But this concept of repurposing is new to the retail world, and has left the retailer at a loss as to how to re-vamp the way they market their products.

With this new culture of thriftiness and re-purposing; garage sales, rummage sales and yes also auctions have exploded with new customers and high sale earnings. Gen Y-ers are excited by the idea of finding innovative ways to get the things they want for cheap. Bartering and swapping are big with their generation. Everything from clothing to trinkets to cars and homes, everything is up for grabs. According to researchers, generation Y-ers are greatly skilled at auctions and haggling for the price they want, something which my generation (X) is still too shy to attempt. Apparently it’s not ‘cool’ to conspicuously consume anymore, leading them to hide their luxury purchases in generic shopping bags. Gen Y-ers will outwardly boast about the small prices they paid for their purchases, a great deal is worth more that the tag’s name for them.

What does this mean for you and me? As far as I can tell, previous generations need to step it up. Get online, join social networking sites, do your research, check the auction sales list every week, and so on. Phew, it would help if we had all of their energy too. Perhaps generation Y will be known as the recession generation, to their credit it seems to be working for them and the auction houses all over the world.

Author Bio: Visit http://www.madisonsauction.com for collectible auctions, appraisals and liquidation and bankruptcy.

Category: Society
Keywords: auction,auctions,collectibles,antique furniture,tools